How did the year 2022 look in USER-CHI and what to expect form 2023?

At the beginning of a new year, many of us contemplate the year that passed, its successes and challenges. So, what happened in the world of USER-CHI in 2022? And what do we have in store for 2023?

USER-CHI is coming into its 3rd year in 2023. It will be undoubtedly an exciting year full of fruitful cooperation towards bringing the electric charging infrastructure in European cities to a new, user-centric level. However, before we get all hyped up for what’s to come, let us look back on the year 2022 and how have we spent it in USER-CHI.

USER-CHI solutions becoming reality

The user research performed within USER-CHI yielded results in 2022 with the publication of the Stations of the Future Handbook. This document presents the four different stations envisaged by the project team to fulfil the needs and expectations of Electric Vehicle users. The gender perspective of charging infrastructure as well as the integration of charging stations into our public space is addressed in the document. Those aspects were also in the focus of the discussion held during a webinar at the end of the year where the Handbook was presented.

The integration challenge is the most pressing in the limited urban space. To help urban planners to orient themselves in the fast changing environment of electromobility, USER-CHI joined forces with other EU funded projects (GreenCharge, MEISTER and CIVITAS ELEVATE) and prepared an e-course “Planning for charging infrastructure in urban mobility” which was launched in October 2022.

Important step towards the deployment of USER-CHI solutions has been taken in Berlin this year. The project partners started to test the INCAR (Interoperability, charging and parking platform) application for reservation and payment for e-vehicles charging points in the city. Similarly, INDUCAR (Inductive charging for e-cars) has been deployed in Barcelona and is being tested by the staff of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB). The USER-CHI developed CLICK tool (Charging location and holistic planning kit) has been taken further in its development in 2022.

We met all over Europe

During the past year, USER-CHI project was featured on many international events, including the Urban Mobility Days in Brno, Smart City Expo in Barcelona or Transport Research Arena in Lisbon. USER-CHI partners met also for two general consortium meetings this year (in March and in November) where we were all enthusiastic to see the USER-CHI products coming to life.

Another important event for USER-CHI project was the Eurocities Mobility Forum 2022 which took place in November in the city of Antwerp. During this forum gathering 150 participants from major European cities, USER-CHI held two events: a cocktail reception with the presentation of USER-CHI developed CLICK tool, and a workshop on replication of e-mobility solutions from the cities of Turku, Budapest and Antwerp. The energy and excitement tangible during the discussion with the representatives of cities from all over Europe left us without any doubt that the products and solutions developed within USER-CHI have the potential to significantly change the future of e-mobility in Europe.

The USER-CHI replication activities took a momentum in 2022 with the start of peer learning visits to the partner cities. Two visits have taken place already in Barcelona and Berlin. These visits will continue in 2023, starting with Rome in January.

We are here for you also online!

Are you an e-mobility enthusiast but your busy work schedule or personal obligations did not allow you to meet with us on any of the physical events? Fear not! USER-CHI has continued to increase its online presence in 2022 and will do so in 2023 as well.

USER-CHI project partners and involved experts were invited to share their experience through multiple webinars this year. We also continued to share news from the project and from the world of electric mobility on our website and social media. Apart from those continuing activities, USER-CHI also launched a new podcast about electromobility. Two episodes are currently published and available for download and 4 more episodes are to be released in the coming months!

Looking out to 2023

With our solutions being deployed and more replication activities taking place, 2023 will be a busy year for USER-CHI.

Most immediately, we are looking forward to continuing our peer learning programme by visiting the eternal city of Rome. The replication activities there will focus on Rome’s good practices and INCAR solution implementation. We are excited to see how the experience of Rome can be transferred to our replicator and fellow cities. The peer learning programme will come to its peak in the spring of 2023, with two more peer learning visits taking place in Budapest and Turku.

Our partner cities will get to see more tangible outputs of USER-CHI in 2023. After the INCAR demonstration site in Berlin, which is already operational, demonstrations in all the other partner cities are starting to pop up in 2023. The inhabitants of Rome, the Metropolitan Area Barcelona, Budapest, Turku and Berlin will soon have a chance to first-hand test the solutions developed in the scope of USER-CHI. We are excited to see it happen as well as to hear what the users think about the products. The focus on users is, after all, an essential part of the USER-CHI philosophy.